These comments started me thinking that over the years attitudes to various things have changed a lot. It used to be OK to hate black people, to think that homosexuals should be locked up, to go out and kill people because they worshipped a different god, to own slaves, to assume that women should be the chattels of a man, etc, etc…
Now anyone holding these beliefs would be (rightly, in my opinion) pilloried.
My main question for debate is, what will be the attitudes to change over the next hundred or so years? Will an “adult who gets sexually excited by prepubsecent boys or girls” be accepted, for example? Or will we go backwards; will it once again be acceptable to own slaves?
In general I think these developments could be categorised as granting more rights to more people. All the new rights that people now have, of course, brought new responsibilities. In general, will there be more or less freedom of action in the future? Do we have more or less freedom of action that we did 100 years or so ago? Will we become better off in general as more rights are granted, or is there a point where diminishing returns step in and the responsibilities outweigh the rights?
I think that one major change in society’s overall attitude towards “devience” is the issue of informed consent. I think this is the only signifigant difference between pediophilia and homosexuality/heterosexuality. (Note, however, that just because it is the only signifigant difference does not mean that it isn’t a very signifigant difference. I am in no way, shape, or form condoning pedophilia). I do think that the current paradigm really leaves no solid arguement for condemning incest or bestiality, and I do sorta expect that over the next century we will see a more casual acceptance of sexual relationships between adult siblings. Mind you, the idea gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I do think it is a mistake to think that society is always and inevitably on a track towwards more and more permissive attitudes–certainly Britain under Victoria was much more conservative in its attitudes towards sex than i nthe centuries previous. However, I don’t see any signs that a return to Victorian-level conservative mores will occur in the forseeable future.
In From Dawn To Decadence Jacques Barzun says that our modern culture is in the decadence phase (which he says is not bad, just part of the process). One of the main features of our Modern Western Culture is individualism. It started with Luther saying that each man was responsible for his/her soul. As the OP states we have gone through all sorts of stages in promoting individualism, but now we are in a phase where it is being taken to the extreme. I raised five kids with a 14 year difference in age: oldest to youngest. I never heard a peep from my oldest about their rights being violated, but the youngest girl told me numerous ways that I was violating her rights.
What I think is killing this thread is the subject of pedophilia. If it did become acceptable then that would be an extreme case of the decadence (i.e. extending individualism to the absurd). It may also be asked if our insistence in knowing if a pedo is living next door, is going too far. Does an insurance company have the right to know about my DNA? If they do, maybe it will decrease your premium. So whose rights are we going to protect or honor?
I don’t know of anyone, who matters, that knows where this is all going. Things will change that is the only thing we know for sure. It seems that in the past things have gone mostly in the right direction, but at this point in history, we need a rebirth in spirit.
Right now, we’re moving towards more rights for consenting adults but fewer rights for any activity relating to children. For example, the entire campaign to keep sex, violence, profanity, etc… in the media away from kids didn’t even exist 100 years ago. It all done using the excuse of “protecting the children”, of course, but it’s still curtailing their rights.
So, for consenting adults, I predict that freedom will continue to grow. I think that fetishes and other sexual desires which are widely regarded as “extreme” or “perverted” now will become more mainstream in the future. On the other hand, we will see more restrictions on what material can be shown to children.